The provision of agricultural information plays a decisive role
for the overall development of agriculture as well improving
the livelihoods of farmers [9,18]. It is argued that information
and knowledge are very vital in agricultural development of
any community and where they are poorly disseminated as
a result of certain constraints, the community’s agricultural
development becomes highly impeded [21]. Over the last
two decades, the Chinese government has invested signifi-
cant amount of efforts and money in agricultural information
dissemination services. These investments have contributed
greatly to the agriculture sector’s social and economic
improvement. With easy access to information, knowledge
and experts support through ICT-based information
dissemination services, farmers are able to improve their
income and economic situation through better practice, for
example in dealing with nature disasters, pests, trading,
marketing, and with raised awareness of government support
and favorable policies. This paper reviews the current literature
on China’s information service systems development
and implementations. Three distinctive development stages
are identified and different mechanisms for developing and
implementing information dissemination systems are
discussed, which are named as: government-led, market
driven and community self-support. Seven information
dissemination models are identified and demonstrated with
case studies.
After extensive literature review, the key impact of agriculture
information services in China can be highlighted in the
following areas: